Clos Haut-Peyraguey 2016 375ml

Attractive, intense, radiant gold, with golden, with slight honey hints. Intense, complex nose. The seductive candied honey and orange notes emerge first, then secondary aromas of almond, apricot and vanilla appear. Smooth, impressively dense flavor, with notes of orange and apricot. Beautiful enduring length. The essence of the grape. This wine is an example of the excellence of Sauternes wines: powerful, structured and elegant, with notes of fruits and intense flowers, with great aging possibilities.

Wine Spectator: 92
Juicy, with a solid core of maple-laced orange blossom, peach, mango and persimmon flavors backed by singed almond and crème brûlée notes on the finish. Best from 2022 through 2034.

Wine Advocate: 94
The 2016 Château Clos Haut-Peyraguey was tightly wound on the nose with hints of melted butter infusing the citrus and honey fruit. It does not quite "flow" at the moment. The palate is well balanced with pure botrytised fruit, very well-judged acidity and although the finish is dominated by a patina of creamy new oak at the moment, everything is in place for a great Sauternes.

Decanter: 91
Enjoyable botrytis character with clementines, lemon confit and toasted almonds. A rich but silky texture, but it needs a turn of the throttle of acidity to really take things up a level. Nevertheless, this is a successful wine. Drinking Window 2022 - 2050.

Wine Enthusiast: 94
Dominated by Sémillon, this rich, luscious wine has layers of ripe fruit and intense concentration. Wood aging has sustained the richness of the wine and not overshadowed the ripe honey, candied peel and hints of almonds. The wine will age for many years. Drink from 2025.

James Suckling: 95
The nose of this mouth-filling and luscious Sauternes reminds me of those slices of candied orange, dipped in bitter chocolate. There’s a ton of power behind the seductive first impression, the finish very long with some mineral character that turns it in the dry direction. Drink or hold.

Jeb Dunnuck: 94
Ripe peach, flowers, and honeyed citrus all emerge from the 2016 Clos Haut-Peyraguey, which has the vintage’s upfront, ripe, forward style front and center. It has beautiful purity of fruit and is already impossible to resist, yet it’s going to evolve nicely as well.